Amos Kurgat and Dolphine Omare Win Again at Gifu Seiryu Half

2019 Gifu Seiryu Half Marathon men's winner Amos Kurgat (Chudenko) and last year's women's champ Dolphine Omare (U.S.E.) were back on top with repeat wins this time. Despite a good field with four sub-60 runners the men's race went out too slow for Kurgat's liking. Within the first 5 km he was away, leading by 6 seconds at 5 km and never looking back as he won by over a minute in 1:00:20. The pack behind him came down to a five-way sprint finish, with past Marugame Half winner Paul Kuira (JR Higashi Nihon) turning in one of his better runs in years with a 1:01:37 for 2nd. Former Soka University top man Philip Mulwa (GMO) was 3rd in 1:01:38 in his corporate league debut, with top Japanese man Kiyoshi Koga (Yasukawa Denki) 4th in 1:01:40.

Omare led start to finish in the women's race, initially with company from the debuting Hellen Ekarare (Toyota Jidoshokki) and Ethiopian great Tirunesh Dibaba through 5 km in 16:06 but soon leaving both behind. Omare came up short of her goal of bettering her 1:07:56 PB, but she got close with a 1:08:18 for the win by over a minute and a half. Ekarare was 2nd in 1:09:53, just holding off Dibaba by 4 seconds. Dibaba's last 6 km was maybe the most surprising thing in the race, having dropped 35 seconds behind Ekarare and being run down by the chase group by 15 km but rallying for 3rd in 1:09:57. Canadian Malindi Elmore was the top finisher from the chase group at 4th in 1:10:11, a PB at age 43. Both Dibaba and Elmore ran in the 2004 Athens Olympics 19 years ago, Dibaba in the 5000 m and Elmore in the 1500 m, an impressive testament to their longevity and dedication.

Gifu Seiryu Half Marathon

Gifu, 23 Apr. 2023

complete results

Women

1. Dolphine Omare (U.S.E.) - 1:08:18

2. Hellen Ekarare (Toyota Jidoshokki) - 1:09:53 - debut

3. Tirunesh Dibaba (Ethiopia) - 1:09:57

4. Malindi Elmore (Canada) - 1:10:11 - PB

5. Isobel Batt-Doyle (Australia) - 1:10:16

6. Reia Iwade (Denso) - 1:10:23

7. Rose Davies (Australia) - 1:10:53 - PB

8. Genevieve Gregson (Australia) - 1:11:57 - debut

9. Nanami Aoki (Iwatani Sangyo) - 1:14:14

10. Seika Ogata (Uniqlo) - 1:14:30

Men

1. Amos Kurgat (Chudenko) - 1:00:20

2. Paul Kuira (JR Higashi Nihon) - 1:01:37

3. Philip Mulwa (GMO) - 1:01:38 - debut

4. Kiyoshi Koga (Yasukawa Denki) - 1:01:40

5. Simon Saidimu (Chuo Hatsujo) - 1:01:43 - PB

6. Joseph Karanja (Aichi Seiko) - 1:01:47

7. Tetsuya Yoroizaka (Asahi Kasei) - 1:01:58

8. Macharia Ndirangu (Aichi Seiko) - 1:02:40

9. Joel Mwaura (Kurosaki Harima) - 1:03:09

10. Vincent Raimoi (Suzuki) - 1:03:09

On the Loss of the ARRS Database

At some point in the last few months I discovered that both versions of the ARRS database, the static one and the searchable version , are gone. Last week David Monti posted a link to the ARRS history of an event he covered in Race Results Weekly, I guess copying and pasting a link from last year without looking at it, and that reminded me to write something about the loss of the database. The Association of Road Racing Statisticians was basically a one-man show operated from the remote Northern California shores by Ken Young . When the site existed its intro read: The Association of Road Racing Statisticians (ARRS) is an independent, non-profit organization that collects, analyses and publishes results and statistics regarding elite distance running at distances 3000m and longer...The data of ARRS is stored in the ARRS database, which has more than 1.3 million performances from more than 240,000 races by more than 95,000 elite and sub-elite distance runners worldwide...This website ...

Multiple National Records This Weekend

Olympic and World champion Haruka Kitaguchi got the biggest headlines among Japanese athletes this weekend, overcoming a rough last year and a half that included injury and a coaching change to break her own javelin throw NR by over a meter and a half to win the inaugural WA Ultimate Championship in Budapest. U20 WR and Asian AR holder Ziyi Yan opened with a big 68.05, 0.67 m further than Kitaguchi's best-ever from back in 2023. That could have been the end, but Kitaguchi came back from a 61.15 m first attempt to throw a massive 68.92 m NR on her next one, ultimately enough for the win. She still has a long way to go to match the 18-year-old Yan's 71.74 m from May, but it was a clear statement that Kitaguchi is back. Back home at the National Corporate Track and Field Championships in Kyoto, women's pole vault NR holder Misaki Morota continued a solid comeback season of her own, bettering her NR from May by 1 cm with a 4.51 m on her first attempt. Morota took another 3...

Japan's Team Lineup in Copenhagen

Re-upping an earlier post on Japan's team lineup for this weekend's Copenhagen World Road Running Championships . The JAAF chose not to name any women to the team in the mile. Women 5 km Kana Mizumoto (Edion) - 15:06.98 Rina Kusu (Sekisui Kagaku) - 15:10.91 Half Marathon Yumi Yoshikawa (Canon) - 1:09:14 Wakana Kabasawa (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) - 1:09:20 Rina Shimizu (Noritz) - 1:09:22 Yuna Takahashi (Shimamura) - 1:09:23 Men Mile Ojiro Honda (Waseda Univ.) - 3:37.53 (1500 m) Tomoki Nakano (Toenec) - 3:37.92 (1500 m) 5 km Yota Mashiko (Waseda Univ.) - 13:20.35 Rui Suzuki (Waseda Univ.) - 13:20.64 Half Marathon Tomoya Ogikubo (Hiramatsu Byoin) - 1:00:22 Yuma Nishizawa (Toyota Boshoku) - 1:00:26 Neo Namiki (Subaru) - 1:00:29 Daisuke Sato (Chuo Univ.) - 1:00:40 © 2026 Brett Larner , all rights reserved

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